Hidden behind the bright colours and bold strokes of the modern Indian art movement is the sustained patronage of the Tata Group. Art curator Priya Maholay-Jaradi chronicles a little-known facet of Tata benefaction that stretches beyond business

Emperor Akbar, one of the greatest patrons of art and culture in the history of medieval India, built his cultural capital at Fatehpur Sikri, near Agra. Here, he commissioned artists to paint miniature works. Akbar's taswirkhana (atelier) was attached to his library and, hence, texts were illustrated. Besides, Akbar's own hobbies, acts of patronage and conquests were recorded pictorially. The royal treasury dictated the scale of artistic activity. Artists were provided with art material and a studio to work in, and some of them came to be closely attached to the inner circles of the royal court. These artists were promoted in many of the emperor's chronicles. Thus, the patronage of art was a multifarious activity involving recognition of talent, commissioning of works, payments to artists, and the promotion of artworks and their creators. Akbar would have never been as fondly remembered but for his artistic pursuits.

In post-independent India, when emperors had long ceased to plan conquests and build empires, men of commerce and industry, along with the rest of the nation, were striving to build a new India that would be self-reliant and prosperous. The House of Tata actively participated in this collective national aspiration. The making of a new Indian art was part of the grand project that was nation-building. In 1948, the Progressive Artists' Group, popularly known as PAG, came into being. PAG pursued a fresh and reformist vision of art independent of past traditions. In the absence of any monarchy, the contours of support stood changed. There was no single patron to perform the multifarious and multihued function of 'patronage'.

Individuals and groups delegated work for themselves and thus began the modern Indian art movement. New ideas, art practices, spaces for display, exchanges, promotions and, above all, the facilitation of buying and selling were required for the progress of this movement. The Tata Group, through its many representatives, became self-delegated 'facilitators' in the new order of Indian art. The majestic collection of visual arts hanging at Bombay House and other Tata properties reflects the group's wholehearted participation in the burgeoning movement. Better known for its pivotal role in building India's economy, the Tata Group has silently contributed to the growth and development of the artistic environment in modern India.

Today it is popular among corporate groups to commission or purchase works of art. But way back in the 1940s the Tatas were already aware of existing artists, art movements and trends. And they always encouraged artists of merit. A good example is the story of Walter Langhammer, an Austrian artist from Vienna who sought refuge in India to escape Nazism. Langhammer, who painted portraits and landscapes, became popular with young Indian artists of the time and, in more ways than one, spearheaded PAG, which consisted of names such as M. F. Husain, S. H. Raza, F. N. Souza and Ara.

Langhammer was commissioned by the Tatas to do a series of art works on the Jamshedpur steel plant in the late 1940s. This was definitely among the pioneering series of industrial artworks commissioned in any era. Langhammer sojourned in Jamshedpur for about three months to complete these works. Illustrative in nature, they reflect a high order of execution. The impressionistic style of painting, which leans on bold strokes while eschewing fine details, also lends to this series an aura of nostalgia. The deep, warm colours of the canvases exhale the smell of the sweat of labour, the burning of coal, the heat of the furnaces and the sound of machinery. Without being a dry document of industry, the works stir the viewer with their sensitive portrayal of a magnificently successful industry in a fledgling democracy and economy. Langhammer's series was outstanding for its artistic, documentary and historic character.

Although PAG was formally established in 1948, artists from the early 1940s had begun to anticipate this new movement through their dynamic art practices. New genres of art, such as murals, were being vociferously advocated. It was during this period that Naval Tata played a pivotal role in recognising murals and helping with their sales. Some Italian prisoners of war captured by the British were brought to India around 1946. It was put to the then viceroy, Lord Louis Mountbatten, that the skills of these men be used to sustain them economically. A unit called 'Murart' was set up in the suburb of Andheri in suburban Bombay. The Italian prisoners made decorative panels and it was decided to show these works to elite members of the Bombay social circle. It was here that Naval Tata stepped in, offering to host a party at his bungalow in Juhu. The Tata name became a determining factor in the sales of the works that night, and 10-12 of them were sold for a handsome price of Rs 500 each. Although the Italian artists fell outside of the paradigm of 'modern Indian art', there was recognition of a new school of creativity, as there was of the link created by Naval Tata between artists and art patrons.

J. R. D. Tata's policy remained that of quiet and effective representation. He did not believe in being seen everywhere, which is why the Tata Group's silent presence in the art world was felt through Jamshed Bhabha and his brother, Dr Homi Bhabha, the atomic physicist and an artist of merit. Dr Bhabha selected the best works from the 1950s that was produced by the progressives. He built up the superbly defined collection of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. Similarly, the best works of the 1960s went into the suites of the Taj Hotel (JRD's sister, Rodabeh, became a key buyer during this period).

Besides developing a good eye for art, display and maintenance was always a concern for those handed the responsibility of nurturing the Tata art collection. The Tatas certainly encouraged PAG members, but that did not mean they ignored those not attached to the group. Naval Tata, when he was with the International Labour Organisation, took along with him a brilliant work of the native artist Piraji Sagara. Similarly, the 'Bombay Group' too found recognition in the enlightened and diversified patronage of the Tatas. Works by Madhav Satwalekar, Shiavax Chavda, K. K. Hebbar and N. S. Bendre were part of the Tata collection. Chavda's talent as a muralist was later also used at the National Centre of Performing Arts by Jamshed Bhabha. In patronising Chavda, the Tatas recognised and accepted a genre that defied the principles and practice of academic art.

Besides its corporate spaces, the Tata Group used its hospitality industry to further the cause of Indian art. Before the culture of art galleries began, there were two exclusive exhibition spaces in Bombay. The first floor of Metro Cinema was one and the other was the Taj Hotel. Satwalekar fondly recalls his first exhibition at the Taj Art Gallery, back in 1945, and acknowledges the encouragement he received from Jamshed Bhabha, whose fine eye helped him acquire over 500 works of modern Indian art for the Tata Group. This Jamshed did with a fine blend of business acumen, managing to purchase works at prices lower than those in the market.

What set Jamshed apart as a collector was his involvement in other art-related activities. These days a number of industrial houses publish calendars with modern art as its theme. This is but a resurgent practice. The Tata Group pioneered this trend in the 1950s, with Jamshed at the forefront. It was he who was instrumental in publishing a Tata calendar each year, with 12 reproductions of modern Indian artworks. These handsome wall calendars lent enormous visibility to modern Indian art and they became an important avenue to educate people about new artists and artworks. Beautiful diaries with art reproductions also came to be printed. Jehangir Sabavala's works were among the very early ones to be reproduced in the Tata calendars and diaries. Says Sabavala, "Many reproductions were fondly appreciated and then Jamshed Bhabha acquired the original paintings from various art exhibitions."

From purchasing and lending visibility to artworks, the Tata patronage diversified into publishing. In 1946 the group started a non-profit organisation called Marg, which means 'pathway' in Sanskrit, with the stated goal of "setting high standards and breaking new ground to bring about an awareness of the arts that is relevant and applicable to India's future". Marg's founder editor was Mulk Raj Anand, and it began as a loose encyclopaedia of the arts of India and related civilisations. Marg has since embraced a broad cultural and historical view of the arts, publishing more than 200 magazines and 90 books on subjects ranging from well-planned worker housing to the art of Burma. The House of Tata had added another hue to their canvas of benefaction.

Tata Steel published a book titled Husain in 1988, compiling the great painter's works. Also in the 1980s, the Tatas and the US-based McGraw-Hill brought out, based on Jamshed Bhabha's recommendation, The Reasoning Vision: Jehangir Sabavala's Painterly Universe by Dilip Chitre. "The Tatas were the first big corporation to encourage the arts and, especially, to support struggling artists," affirms a grateful Sabavala.

The Tatas have played the role of patron of the arts with much grace and responsibility. This industrial concern's impressive contribution to the building of the nation's economy has been applauded. But its role as avid supporters of the modern Indian art movement is only just being discovered. Walter Langhammer became an artist-in-residence at Jamshedpur to document the steel plants; today Tata Steel conducts regular art camps for young talent in that city. Akbar's legacy of patronage may be long dead, but the new corporate culture of patronage spearheaded by the Tatas is alive and well.

Uploaded in March 2005